Dancing With the Stars’ Andy Richter stuns judges with jazz performance on Wicked night

Comedian Andy Richter displayed an impressive performance on the newest episode of Dancing With the Stars. As the theme for this episode was “Wicked Night," the dance ballroom was transformed into Emerald City as the dancers would try to live up to the hit 2024 movie musical and its upcoming follow-up, Wicked: For Good, which releases on November 21. 

Special guest judge Jon M. Chu joined the panel. Jon M. Chu, who directed the Wicked films. With only 10 remaining celebrities, the performances get intense as these contestants compete for the Len Goodman Mirror Ball Trophy.

It was a memorable episode as Dylan Efron managed to rise to the top of the leaderboard last week as he performed a number set to his brother Zac’s song “Rewrite the Stars.”

The television personality notably became the first contestant to earn a score of four nines, which marked the highest score of the competition at that point, with a 35/40, from the judges.

Dancing With the Stars alum Andy Richter gets judges’ nod of recognition

Andy Richter displayed a great performance as he came into "Wicked Night" at a disadvantage with having the lowest judges' scores on "Dedication Night" by an important margin, so it took him a lot of effort to pull himself out of last place.

The comedian brought the show to Emerald City a he displayed a jazz performance to the track “One Short Day” by Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel featuring Michael McCorry Rose. 

Judge Carrie Ann was surely impressed by Richter’s performance as she said that he is the living proof that the art of dancing is for everyone, while appreciating the “great choreography," and pointed out how Richter did not miss one step. 

Derek Hough was equally impressed as he stated how he is genuinely proud of Richter, as he further said, 

“Seeing you embrace the experience so much brings joy to my heart."

Guest judge Jon M Chu also commented he saying how he can see in Andy's eyes just how much dance has given him, while pointing out that Wicked is all about being the underdog.

Bruno commented positively on the performance, saying,

"Even the great Oz himself could not have created a better illusion," and Richter was "actually on time.

Andy Richter opens up about being hopeful to stay on The Dancing With the Stars 

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Andy Richter explained how he looks at DWTS as more of a TV show than a legitimate competition.

The popular comedian further stated that his partnership with Emma Slater might be enough to get him through several more eliminations in the show. Richter admits, 

"I kind of feel like I'm remaining very hopeful that I'll stick around for a little bit. Because I do think like it's a TV show, and when people are voting, and also, I mean, I am again relying so much on Emma's online presence and her sort of military campaign to get people to vote for us."

Watch all the performances on Dancing With the Stars airing exclusively on ABC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST or available live with a Disney subscription.

Viewers can catch it the following day to stream on Hulu. Stay tuned for more updates.